The Story of Lewis Carroll

Today we celebrate the life of Lewis Carroll, the eccentric author of Alice in Wonderland.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll was born on January 27th, 1832.

With 118 years since his death, here you can find out some interesting facts about this literary genius, including what inspired his greatest work, his early life and of course some fun trivia on Alice in Wonderland.

The daughter of friend and boss Henry Liddell, young Alice Liddell asked for a story from Carroll whilst on a boating trip in Oxford. He spoke of a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure, the rest as they say is history.

Lewis Carroll was a teacher of Maths at Oxford University

He produced several works about mathematics and even invented the Carroll Diagram which is still taught in lessons to this day.

The book has never gone out of print since its first publication

Alice in Wonderland has been in print since 1865 and has been translated into more than 100 languages.

Alice was first made into a film in 1903

Although the first film was only 12 minutes long, there have now been many famous adaptations with the most recent set to be ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ out in cinemas this year.

Carroll had his productivity in writing down to a fine art

He could write 20 words a minute, a page of 150 words in seven and a half minutes, and 12 pages in two and a half hours.

Alice in Wonderland is full of animals that represent real people and events, including a famous scene using the party members on the boating trip

The Dodo is a version of Dodgson, Robinson Duckworth is as his namesake suggests – a duck and Alice’s two friends were a lory and an eaglet.